


Collection I (2013 Summer Mini Challenge)

by KY Lowell (TachyonStar)



Category: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-27 08:11:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/976462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TachyonStar/pseuds/KY%20Lowell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of one-shot challenge fic prompts for LuxKen27's summer fic challenge. "Golden amber", "fire", "rebel", "simply", "whimsical".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Collection I (2013 Summer Mini Challenge)

**Author's Note:**

> May contain gratuitous amounts of silly, shippy tendencies and muses running away with the plot.
> 
> (That is, if there is any plot.)
> 
> These aren't meant to be a sequence or anything; they're all just prompted one-shots that are all too wee to post singly.

**#1 - Golden amber**  
  
"Richter! Richter, look at this." Aster practically bounced over to the half-elf as he entered the lab, grinning like he was on the world's worst sugar rush and holding up a shining gemstone. "Look, it's perfect - I finally did it! This is the optimal cut for both beauty and protective effect. It reduces the dangers of lightning damage by a full twenty percent while still being stylish enough to wear as an everyday accessory! Here, try it on," he beamed, shoving the stone into Richter's hands while he was still looking too bemused to protest. "Isn't it great?"  
  
Richter blinked slowly, then looked down at the stone, turning it over and over in his hands and watching the flicker-flash of fluorescent light off the polished facets. He did have to admit it was pretty (although he knew he had no eye for aesthetics); it made him think of a piece of sunlight turned tangible, a brilliant golden amber that would surely draw anyone's eye. "It's nice," he agreed, looking up at Aster again, "but is this what you've been working on all morning?"  
  
"All _night_ , thank you." Aster huffed in mock annoyance, folding his arms and trying not to look sheepish. "I was too excited to sleep, alright? I was just so close to finishing up and it was going so well, I couldn't just leave it and risk losing the flow...and besides, now it's done, so I don't have to focus so hard on it anymore! That's a good thing. Really. It is."  
  
Letting out an amused snort, Richter turned the stone over once more before handing it back. "Twenty percent, you said? And... _how_ many times did you let yourself get shocked to prove that one?"  
  
Aster blushed, fidgeting and looking down at the floor in embarrassment. "Um...I lost count at thirty-seven and a half."  
  
Richter sighed. No wonder Aster was so hyper right now.  
  
***  
  
**#2 - Fire**  
  
Somehow, Emil found it very hard to understand how Richter had come to be partnered with the Centurion of Water in the first place.  
  
It was true that he shared many of the same characteristics as water itself - bitingly cool, deep and mysterious, gentle one moment and devastatingly harsh the next - yet despite the similarities, it didn't quite seem to make any sense. No, it should have been fire; bright and dangerous, hot and mesmerizing, with only the slightest hint of a line between helpful and hurtful that could easily be crossed with no warning whatsoever - that made far more sense, and that was the thought that Emil secretly entertained whenever he looked at Richter. He would never say it out loud, he was absolutely certain he'd be laughed at for it, but in his mind, Richter could be nothing but fire.  
  
And when they faced one another at the end, he knew he had been right all along.  
  
***  
  
**#3 - Rebel**  
  
"No," Aster said stiffly, folding his arms and keeping his eyes trained on Richter's face, refusing to look down at the book he was offering even the slightest bit. "Absolutely not. I'm not reading it."  
  
Looking thoroughly nonplussed, Richter just blinked for a few moments before lowering the book, absently setting it aside on the workbench. How strange, he'd been _positive_ he'd found something Aster would like... "...Should I even ask?" he said finally, folding his own arms and staring right back, unable to help but feel slightly unnerved by how the human's stare never even wavered. "The last I knew, you couldn't get enough of that particular subject. Or...did I remember wrong?" Though he knew very well that he hadn't. When it came to Aster, he rarely, if ever, misremembered.  
  
"...No, you didn't," Aster admitted, finally squirming in discomfort and looking away. "It's just, well, I just...no, never mind, it doesn't even matter! I don't want to read it, I'm _not_ reading it, end of story. That's my decision and that's all that matters! So, so just...let it be! Okay?"  
  
Richter couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, looking at Aster a bit oddly. Really, the way he was acting was so...puerile and childish, so very unlike his usual agreeable maturity; it was as if he'd regressed to a much earlier stage of life all of a sudden. Or, he thought suddenly, maybe not _regressed_ , but... "By the way, Aster...if I remember correctly, you've been researching how Summon Spirits grow and mature lately. You wouldn't happen to be comparing their life cycle to a human life cycle, and abruptly realizing you skipped _completely_ over your own rebellious stage, would you? And you're not trying to _make up for that_ , are you?"  
  
Aster choked slightly, going an amusing shade of annoyed red and flailing at him. "O-of course not! Why would I do something as stupid and childish as...as..." But he soon deflated and calmed somewhat, his expression twisting into a dark, sulky stare of resignation. "...It's not working, is it?"  
  
"No, it's not," Richter agreed, unable to help but smile a little at how accurate his theory had ended up being. "Should I bring the book back later?"  
  
Aster pouted and turned away. "...Yes. I mean, no! I mean, _go away_."  
  
"You little rebel. Get back to work." Richter chuckled and patted Aster on the shoulder, picking up the book again and walking away.  
  
***  
  
**#4 - Simply**  
  
Everyone, in their own way, had a very different opinion of Richter.  
  
To Marta, he was the ultimate enemy, to be avoided at all costs. Nothing had convinced her yet to give him even the smallest bit of trust, and nothing ever would; she might have given in eventually if Emil had only pushed long enough, but worse still than the multiple efforts to kill her and take Ratatosk's false core was what he had done to her father - what he had forced _her_ to do while Brute was under the influence of Solum's core - and that warped her opinion of him irreparably. No, she would never forgive him, never let herself even think about trusting such a detestable man.  
  
To Tenebrae, he was an adversary, an obstacle, but also the source of a very strange sort of happiness for Emil, and those two differing opinions tended to clash in his thoughts more than he wanted to admit. Just as Marta, he too would never forgive or even trust Richter, but he _would_ allow a grudging acceptance simply for the fact that it would please Emil. After all, as a Centurion, he existed to serve Ratatosk, and his meek and mild cover personality was just another facet to bow down to...even if that personality had some of the strangest ideas about other people.  
  
To Aqua, he was a master, a friend, and perhaps in the deepest depths of her most secret thoughts, a lover. True, she had only begun to serve him out of sheer disgust at Ratatosk, but somewhere along the way, she had found herself becoming genuinely and deeply attached to the enigmatic man. She wanted to make him happy and fulfill his every wish, and if she could not do that...well, she didn't even want to think about it. She would just continue protecting and aiding him with all her heart, and distantly hoping that he might someday realize her feelings.  
  
To the former heroes of World Regeneration, he was many different things all at the same time. Zelos found him irritating and detested him openly; Sheena privately thought him a bit gullible while disliking his arrogant ways; Raine and Genis could not help but sympathize as fellow half-elves but still would not trust him; Colette wasn't entirely sure what to think of him, torn between everyone's viewpoints as she tried to keep an open mind; Regal preferred to hold no open opinion, alluding to neither hate nor compassion; Presea was much the same, though for very different reasons; Lloyd could only despise him for what he'd done and what he continued trying to do. Yet between them all, they shared one common thread, a thought exactly the same: he was their foe.  
  
To Ratatosk, he was an entity to be both despised and feared. Arrogant enough to confront him in the Ginnungagap and powerful enough to reduce him to a core, Richter was a man to be watched - no, to be observed as closely as possible, his power and his drive far too dangerous to be left alone. It was quite convenient that Emil seemed to want to follow Richter everywhere, and perhaps he would even secretly prod the boy into being courageous enough to do so. After all, it was hard to keep an eye on someone while hiding in nervous apprehension.  
  
But to Emil, no matter how many different emotions and thoughts would swirl through his mind, not a one would be settled on as being _right_. Each one would be sorted through and then quickly discarded, some small element ringing hollow or false, and for a while it had genuinely bothered him but he'd eventually given up caring. If he couldn't think of the perfect appellation, then there was only one thing to do, and that was to simply put it out of his mind and wait for a suitable descriptor to come to him on its own.  
  
Finally, it did, and he had to admit it really was the most perfect of all.  
  
To Emil, Richter was simply...just Richter.  
  
***  
  
**#5 - Whimsical**  
  
"...What...are you _wearing_?"  
  
Emil swallowed nervously, keeping his eyes fixed on a patch of particularly interesting ground. "...Cat ears," he answered, kicking at a clump of grass. "It wasn't my idea - Tenebrae started it, and Marta decided we all needed - I mean, she kept chasing us around with these ears - and I can't take them off because then she'd get mad at me - she's really scary when she's mad, you know? But it really wasn't my idea--"  
  
"...You're rambling. That's enough." Richter sighed and firmly shut Emil's mouth with a hand under his chin, getting the idea well enough. Honestly, he couldn't even bring himself to be surprised at Marta's involvement - although... "Dare I even ask what Tenebrae had to do with this?"  
  
"Um, well - Marta and Tenebrae got to talking about his hearing," Emil mumbled, kicking at the grass again and still stubbornly refusing to look up. "And Tenebrae said his ears aren't just good for hearing, they also look cute - I don't even know where he gets ideas like that - but I guess that got Marta thinking and...well, this." He weakly gestured towards the plush headband, which was skewed at a rakish angle. "...It's not even all that cute. And I look so stupid. This is humiliating."  
  
Richter hummed absently, folding his arms and just _looking_ for a long moment. "I wouldn't call it stupid," he said finally. "More like...whimsical." He reached out again, straightening the ears atop Emil's head and letting himself smirk. "You're also wrong, by the way. You may not be able to see it, but those ears do rather suit you. It's...frankly adorable."  
  
Emil finally looked up, his mouth hanging slightly open in shock. "R-Richter...?"  
  
"So, are you ready to go yet?" Richter raised an eyebrow, perfectly calm, as if the previous sentence hadn't come out of his mouth, had only been some very strange trick of the imagination. "We don't have all day, and if you're not ready, I'm leaving without you."  
  
"N-no! I'm ready!" Emil flushed brightly in embarrassment, hurrying to fall into step with Richter as he started off towards the path out of town. "...Richter...did you really mean that? You really think the ears are...cute?"  
  
"So what if I do?" Richter stole a glance back, raising the other eyebrow.  
  
Emil found he didn't have an answer for that.


End file.
